Structural reinforcers are used in various industries to provide structural support to or reduce noise and/or vibrations in various products. For example, in the automotive industry, a reinforcer may be used to reinforce beams, pillars, rails, nodes, doors, or roof of the vehicle. Known reinforcers commonly include a rigid carrier member and a structural foam or structural adhesive (collectively herein, “bonding materials”) disposed at select locations on the outer surface of the carrier. The carrier is sometimes made from metal, plastic, glass filled or hybrid metal plastic, or hybrid plastic fiber mat, plastic. The bonding material is commonly in an unexpanded state when the reinforcer is manufactured, but configured to expand in response to an activator, such as heat, and bond to the surfaces of the structural member. In the automobile context, the activating heat is commonly provided when the vehicle is process through the paint booth.
Several known reinforcer configurations are shown in FIGS. 1A-1C. Each of FIG. 1A-1C is a cross-sectional end view of a reinforcer 10 positioned inside of a channel 12. The reinforcer 10 includes a carrier member 14 and bonding material 16 disposed at select locations thereon. In each embodiment, the bonding material 16 is disposed on the exterior longitudinal walls of the carrier 14, extending along the length of the carrier member 14. Notably, in these embodiments, there is no bonding material disposed on any surfaces of the carrier that are substantial orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the structural member 12 or the reinforcer 10.
The inventors hereof have developed a reinforcer with an improved configuration of bonding material applied to the carrier, which results in improved performance of the reinforcer.